usury

/ˈjuʒəri/

/ˈjuʒəri/

Other forms: usuries

Usury means lending money at exorbitant interest rates. Some people think that credit card companies charging annual interest rates of 29% are guilty of usury.

A good way to remember the meaning of usury is that you can hear the word use in there. Think of charging too much interest as a way of "using" someone. The sad thing about high interest is that it's always the people who can least afford it who are charged rates so high that it amounts to usury. In the old days, if someone was found guilty of usury, they'd be severely punished.

Definitions of usury

1. noun

   the act of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest
   type of:

   lending, loaning

   disposing of money or property with the expectation that the same thing (or an equivalent) will be returned
2. noun

   an exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest
   synonyms: vigorish

   type of:

   interest rate, rate of interest

   the percentage of a sum of money charged for its use